I like living. I've sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow, but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing.
- Agatha Christie

Sunday, September 19, 2010

The joy of Eidulfitri.

There is nothing special about Hari Raya to me now that I am a grown up. It is just another day in the year that we go through and a day that Muslims celebrate in awe. Getting together is not how it feels like from the last time I remember when I was still a little girl. No more are the cousins be it the boys or girls with whom I used to play, no more sounds of the firecrackers or the smell of thick smoke coming from our 'bunga api'; everyone now is no longer that small child being parents of our own little ones.

However, in all these changes that I love to reminisce by ransacking my yesteryears..there is one memory that still remains alive to date which is the 'salam-bersalaman' or the seeking for forgiveness session we always have in the mornings of Eidulfitri right after the men of the house return from their Syawal prayers. This is the one tradition that I am proud of because during this time, we would all seek forgiveness regardless of our age and position in the family. My mother would start off by asking my father to forgive her for her previous sins and when she is done she would sit herself next to my Dad where my sister, the eldest would then continue until the youngest child, being trailed by the three grandchildren whom all would seek forgiveness from the head of the family and the lady of the house who sits proudly next to my Dad..

But the best thing is, it does not stop there ... it has always been my humble Dad's teaching that seeking forgiveness is not only to the parents but should also be among the siblings themselves and therefore, what happens every year at our home is we always respect one another and honor each other by doing the same as we have done to our parents which is to seek forgiveness between us; the younger would apologize to the elders and vice versa unlike in some movies or dramas where the portrayal of apologizing is only sought from the young ones to the elders!

By humbling ourselves, that..I believe is what has helped to hold our sibling's affection and bonded us tightly throughout our entire lives. What makes me proud is that this tradition has also rubbed on to me for my children too have been taught with the same values that my father has inculcated to us ever since I could remember. It is entirely fulfilling seeing them hugging each other and saying 'minta maaf zahir dan batin' in their own childish manner just like how we used too many years ago.

That is one of the things about Hari Raya that has and never will change in my family. I cannot imagine not doing this...this habit of seeking forgiveness among children to parents, parents to their children and siblings to each other because to me, that is the true spirit of Hari Raya, the sincerity of seeking forgiveness. We may not be rocket scientists having first-class degrees but we do have first class bonding among the family members which I will never trade for all the riches in the world...

My siblings and my little terrors in Melaka on the 2nd of Hari Raya. Guys, I love you dearly!!!

2 comments:

Somehow I have to google your blog site to read your posting.. it does not appear on my dashboard..Nice hariraya tradition you have there!Oops you raya di M'sia!!.. ah so nice.. to have a chance to comeback..A friend/ colleague from the past came to visit me at the office today and seek to get me to work in Dahran..It is at least 3 years too late.. although I was offered to work in Hong Kong for Kuwaiti oil company some 15 years back.. tak terima ..tak sanggup nak tinggalkan kedua orang tua.. kenangan..